Chloron
by TheKingofScotland
Summary: The laughing master teaches young Yoda patience


Darkness was thick as the mists that swirled above the murky pond, punctuated only by the occasional biolumunous creature that wandered, hunted, or howled by. Dagobah's restful sleep was coming to an end as the sun made ready to rise and rain down a shower of photons onto the outstretched leaves of a hungry ecosystem.   
Bubbles began to break the surface tension at the water's edge. The bubbles ceased as the humanoid shape pulled itself out of the water, up on the shore, and, slowly, as if weighted by an unseen burden, up to a near by tree. Stopping for a moment, dark green skin still glistening, chest heaving silently, the creature began to pull itself up the tree.   
The flying, crawling, swimming citizens of Dagobah paid no attention as, inch by inch, by no visible hand holds, the rubbery skinned "man" made it's way up to the canopy formed by the tops of the old growth rain forest. Now sitting on a tiny platform, legs crossed, arms upraised, the green man opened his black black eyes. Golden pupils constricted as his goal was attained: the sun peeked over the horizon and the first rays of its warm life giving stream poured over him. Laughter. Tears. And then the Song of Life, an outward reflection of the photosynthetic process that changed light.... into life.   
Hours later, in a more deciduous area, Xashia dug for grubs and tubers. Her shock of flaming red hair flowed from between her long pointy ears that jingled quietly from long rows of earrings. She stood up, hands full of little moving creatures, to see her son's teacher coming down the trail. He had an invitation to breakfast and a day of training young Yoda. Her eyes widened because of her unreadyness as she streaked back to their little adobe igloo to finish cooking. Her husband, Yono, looked up from chopping tubers.   
"Late wives. Early guests. Huh!" he grunted.   
"Oh, be at peace, and kiss me!" she scolded.   
His grimace changed to a smile and a matching pucker as their lips met. Yono was gruff and impatient, but she knew how to handle him. She giggled to herself at that thought.   
Jedi Master Chloron, now robed and dry, had seated himself inside.   
"Please pardon my earliness, I feel there is much to teach today." Chloron said in his typical slow and deliberate manner.   
"Care for some brewed Chanka leaves while you wait?" Xashia offered.   
"Ahhhh.... My favorite." Anyone who ever heard him speak always wondered if the "Ahh" would ever stop. Also, it seemed that anything that was offered to him was his favorite. There was nothing disingenuous about it, he just liked almost anything. She set the dark beverage down in front of him in a carved wooden cup, and then leaned out the door to call her son.   
"Yo-Yo! Breakfast!"   
Off a ways from the homestead, a head emerged from a pile of underbrush. He so hated it when she called him "Yo-Yo" !   
"Yoda!" He said to his mother's voice, eyes squinting. He then turned to a near by bush and addressed it. "Beware, I am Jedi!" The little "jedi" rushed the bush chopping and slashing it with his "lightsaber" that happened to be a stick he had found. He heard a voice behind him.   
"Excellent. You've rid the galaxy of another evil shrub. Well done. " Chloron began to lightly applaud in good-natured mockery. "Now, come along and have some breakfast."   
As the freshly full master and apprentice strolled down the trail that ran beside a strip of swamp, Chloron's normally cheery countenance brightened just a bit more.   
"Yoda, wait here on this stump." Chloron ordered, striding into the murky water. Yoda watched as ten dark green heads emerged from the swamp. Chloron's kin greeted him with the usual "ahhhhhhhh!" starting low and ascending, along with finger pointing, as if they'd caught each other in some sort of mischief. As they all began slowly chanting in the Chloridian tongue, a strange sparkling mist began to rise from them. The mist thickened until they were enshrouded by it, with only an occasional hand poking through to catch a few more rays of sunlight.   
Yoda's face puckered. "Huh." He grunted, dejected at this wasted time. He looked back at the shimmering, light refracting cloud obscuring his master and his master's kin through squinting eyes. "How long must I wait while he .....plays?"   
"Yoda." came the knowing and gentle response "Come here." The command was only a polite way to let him prepare to be lifted by the Force to perch on Chloron's shoulder, where he received a gentle pat on the head. Inside the cloud, Yoda could see the others hazily. They were all listening to the Jedi's slowly, methodically told tale with wide eyed wonder.   
In Yoda's imagination, his master's story became vividly alive. Between the flow of the Force, his young impressionable mind, and the intoxicating effects of the oxygen rich Chloridian vapor cloud, he became almost more aware of the images in his mind than his surroundings. He saw the inside of a building on Coruscant as his master slipped in a window, looked around quickly then called out ".....'human, what do you hope to gain from this taking of hostages?' He had defeated his automated sentries, almost thinking they were meant to give him a false confidence. He knew why there were hostages: someone was hunting Jedi. Chloron smiled, humanoid teeth showing through his leaf like face. There was nothing like knowingly walking into an ambush to test one's trust in the Force.   
With a fierce saber slash, his opponent cut through the wall nearest Chloron and was almost instantly upon him. Chloron's whitish blade met the three quick strokes easily, the smile still not quite faded from his face. They parted and took up _enguarde_ positions, Chloron's blade swept back behind him, his opponent's above his head.   
The Force flooded the Jedi's mind, and he closed his eyes for a moment. " I hear your mother crying for you. Why do you break her heart?"   
The unnamed Sith made a face as if he were slapped by an ice-cold hand. Pain and rage so well hidden for so long very suddenly paraded in front of him. He changed stances, his blade now in front of him, and closed the distance. A jab, and three more quick attacks, all parried by the Jedi, who now wore a look of sadness. The Sith attacked again, in close, and their blades growled in objection as they locked up, face to face.   
"She cries..." Chloron closed his eyes again. " Jens..." His eyes now open, piercing the Sith's soul, who's name he now knew.   
"Shut.... Up!" 'Jens' was enraged, shoving the Jedi away with his blade. How? His mind raced, trying in vain to maintain control. He began to shake noticeably. His Master's displeasure pouring through him from afar. "Weak" was the word. Three more quick blows. High, high, low, a spin, low, spin back, high. I will die here today....   
Amidst the flurry of parrying that followed, Chloron formulated a plan. So focusing his attention that time seemed to freeze, he made his move and jabbed the point of his saber into the hilt of the Sith's. In nano seconds a fireball formed between them as giga joules of raw capacitance were rendered plasma. Reaching out to the Force, Chloron absorbed the energy, sparing the life of the Sith, who was now looking in disbelief at his empty hands.   
In the blind rage of frustration and emotional exposure, Jens' eyes rolled back in his head, his teeth clenched. From deep within him, in the secret place of who he was, he pulled from the Force. "Force Lightening" poured from him into Chloron as Jens screamed in bitter hatred. The Jedi used the energy he'd just taken from the blast to make a "Force shield". He was standing and unharmed as his opponent collapsed into a pathetic sobbing heap.   
Chloron disengaged his lightsaber, walked over, knelt down, and said "There is a way home, beloved son."   
That day they walked out together, and a Sith lord lost yet another apprentice.   
Yoda shook his head to clear it as he was again aware of his surroundings. Chloron's kin where slowly chanting his name in response to such a story with such a fine ending.   
"Please, please." Chloron raised both hands in defense from the praise. "I only spoke the truth. It was truth that saved the boy."   
Hours later, atop the canopy of Dagobah's rain forest, the master and the apprentice sat cross-legged on Chloron's sunning platform, watching the sun dip below the horizon. The master was clearly enjoying the experience more than his student.   
"Master Chloron!" The words came out more forcefully that Yoda had desired, with more than just a tinge of anger. They stared at each other, both startled.   
"Something vexes you, my apprentice?" Chloron's face relaxed a bit.   
"No, I...." Yoda looked about nervously, as if words were to be found around his feet to excuse his outburst.   
"Honesty, Yoda."   
"Frustrated I am! " he began " Always do I follow you about, hear your stories. Taught me to move objects with the Force, and to calm my self, to listen, you have, but when will I learn the ways of the Jedi!?"   
"You mean the ways of the lightsaber." Chloron corrected.   
"Yes. The weapon of the Jedi. If a Jedi I am to be, then why do I not learn the art of combat!?"   
Chloron took a deep breath and closed his eyes, then he spoke. "Yoda. Why?"   
His mouth dropped open. "Why?"   
"Why do we live?" His master's eyes looked through him.   
"Live.... I...."   
"To rid the galaxy of evil? Is this your aim?"   
Yoda thought a moment, and slowly knodded.   
Chloron smiled a bit, looked up and said "I have lived a long, long time..... I promise, one could line up all the evil creatures from here to Coruscant, cut them all in half with your lightsaber.... and more evil would spring up in their places like weeds."   
"There is something fundamentally wrong with the universe.. I... I don't understand it, but I feel it. I feel it deeply. Long ago, the feelings overwhelmed me until I almost perished. That was when Jens saved _me... _He helped me see that I cannot pull the burden of all the cosmos onto my shoulders, but instead decide that where I am, there will be peace, where I am, there will be truth and life... I am not the cure to the world's pain, only a cog in the machine. In this, I find great consolation. And you, young Yoda, when you learn humility, defending the innocent instead of rushing off to kill evil, when you learn to live in the moment, not strive for the future, when you learn why you live:" Chloron's eyes again pierced his soul. "...to love your parents and your friends and find the joy of life where you are, .... then I will teach you the saber. Then I will....." 

The Image of Chloron's face faded as Yoda watched _his_ apprentice balancing on one hand, who, just now he realized ,was much more like himself than he really wanted to admit. "Through the Force, things you will see, other places, the future, the past, old friends long gone..." In a flash of memory, he heard his master's dying words, dying a death so wrong for so gentle and noble a soul. "Beyond the veil of matter, across the event horizon, when we are one with the Force, I will see you again, dear friend....   
"Yes, dear friend. Again. ...and soon."   



End file.
